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COL.  GEORGE  WASHINGTON  FLOWERS 
MEMORIAL  COLLECTION 


TRINITY  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 
DURHAM,  N.C. 


Established  by  the  family  of 
COL.  GEORGE  WASHINGTON  FLOWERS 


Digitized  by 

the  Internet  Archive 

in  2015 

' — ? 

https://archive.org/details/sermoncommemoratOOdoug 


HALDIMAND  SUMNER  PUTNAM. 

(CAPT.  ENGIXEEES,  U.  S.  A.) 
Colonel  of  the  Ith  Regiment,  New  -  Hampshire  Volunteers, 

AND 

ACTING    BRIGADIER    GENERAL,    COMMANDING    THE  COLUMN 
OF  ASSAULT  ON  FORT  WAGNER,  UPON  WHOSE 
RA.MPARTS  HE   FELL,   JULY   18,  1863. 


THE  FLOWERS  COLLECTION 


O  OI^IvfllEI^O^l^TI^E  CDF 

HALDIMAND  SUMNER  PUTNAM, 

(GAPT.  ENGINEERS,  U.  S.  A.)  '  ' 

Colonel  of  tlie  7tli  Regiment,  Tfew  -  Hampsliire  Volunteers, 

AND 

ACTING    BRIGADIER    GENERAL,    COMMANDING    THE  COLUMN 
OF   ASSAULT   ON  PORT  WAGNER,  UPON  WHOSE 
RAMPARTS  HE    PELL,    JULY   18,  1863. 

The  Tiieinory  of  the  just  i.s  blessed." 


Preaclifd  on  the  jOtli  August,  186],  in  Trinity  Cimrcli,  Cornisii,  \,  H. 

BY  THE 

-Ret.  MALCOLM  DOUGLASS, 

RECTOR  OF   ST.   PAUL's  CHURCH,   WINDSOR,  YT. 


CLAEEMONT,  N.  H  : 

PRESS  OF  THE  CLAREMO^T  M A>' UFACTURING  COMPANY. 

1  8  6  3  = 


SERMON. 


PROVERBS,  X.  13 : 

"  THE  MEMORY  OF  THE  JUST  IS  BLESSED." 

There  are  few  men  who  are  indifferent  to  the  reputation 
which  they  leave  behind  them  when  they  die.  They  crave 
some  memorial  which  shall  outlive  them  and  preserve  the 
fragrance  of  their  memory,  though  it  be  only  for  a  passing 
day  ;  something  to  keep  them  from  being  regarded  as  the 
beasts  of  the  earth  whose  memory  perishes  as  soon  as  they 
die,  and  who,  when  lost  to  sight,  are  forgotten  as  though 
they  had  never  been.  And  as  the  spheres  of  men's  occux)a- 
tions  are  various,  so  their  desires  vary  in  this  respect.  As 
their  own  peculiar  circle  of  society  is  great  or  small,  so  vari- 
ous are  their  expectations  and  hopes  of  a  corresponding 
memorial.  The  statesman  desires  to  have  his  memorial 
preserved  in  the  honorable  records  of  his  country.  The 
monarch  would  be  remembered  in  the  history  of  nations. 
The  Governor  would  be  identified  in  memory  with  the  inter- 
ests of  his  j)rovince  or  state  :  the  leading  men  of  a  town 
with  their  own  community.  The  soldier  would  be  remem- 
bered in  his  regiment ;  the  pastor  in  his  parish  ;  the  parent 
with  his  children,  and  the  beggar,  even,  w^ould  be  gratified 
to  think  that  his  faithful  dog  would  moan  and  languish  over 
his  lonely  and  neglected  grave. 

This  feeling,  my  brethren,  as  distinguished  from  mere 
worldly  ambition,  is  really  instinctive  with  men.     We  do 


4 


not  pass  away  from  existence  when  we  are  summoned  by 
death  to  leave  the  communion  and  converse  of  men  and  the 
association  of  material  and  visible  things.  No  !  though  we 
may  never  more  greet  our  friends  upon  the  earth,  though 
death  may  seal  our  brow  with  the  mark  of  corruption,  though 
the  repose  of  the  grave  may  palsy  our  hands  and  our  hearts  ; 
yet  have  we  within  us  the  assurance  that  the  immaterial, 
invisible  and  spiritual  part  of  us,  the  soul,  still  lives  ;  and 
that,  while  the  body  has  descended  to  death,  the  immortal 
spirit  has  gone  to  Grod  who  gave  it. 

The  soul  of  man  cannot  and  will  not  admit  the  thought^ 
the  repugnant  thought,  of  its  utter  extinction.  The  untu- 
tored heathen  has  his  Spirit  Land,  his  Hades, — his  yjlace  of 
happiness  or  sorrow  for  the  departed  soui.  And  the  Christian 
naturally  and  eagerly  embraces  the  clear  truth  of  everlasting 
life,  which  (together  with  the  truths  of  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead  through  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  the  great 
judgment  trial,  and  the  eternal  sentence  for  good  or  evil  at 
the  last  day)  is  fully  established  by  the  testimony  of  God's 
Holy  Word,  and  is  set  forth  under  the  Spirit  by  the  Church 
of  Christ. 

Yes,  the  impression  of  all  these  things  is  so  consistent  with 
the  common  sense  of  mankind,  and  so  well  established  by 
the  unequivocal  teachings  of  Holy  Writ,  that  it  weighs  upon 
the  soul  of  every  man,  whether  he  regards  or  disregards  it  ; 
and  therefore  he  cannot  consent  to  be  forgotten  as  a  dead 
thing  out  of  mind,  or  as  the  bubble  which  floats  upon  the 
surface  of  the  water  and  presently  vanishes  into  air  under  the 
pressure  of  a  drop  of  rain  or  the  breath  of  a  passing  breeze. 

It  is  under  the  impulse  of  this  sentiment  that  men  seek 
for  so  many  kinds  of  memorial.  One  perhaps  is  ambitious 
of  high  talent,  successful  and  consecrated  to  the  State  ;  an- 
other of  a  useful  and  public-spirited  life  ;  another  of  wealth  ; 
another  of  distinguished  social  qualities  .;   another  of  a 


correct  deportment  ;  anotlif  r  of  literary  or  scientific  accjuire- 
ments  :  another  of  bravery  or  skill  upon  the  field  :  another 
of  afiection.  or  of  sufiering.  or  of  usefulness  in  an  humble 
station.  But  it  is  a  great  pity  that  men  should  seek  (as 
they  too  often  do)  for  these  things  alone  :  that  they  should 
neglect  at  the  same  time  to  secure  tor  themselves  ''the 
memory  of  the  just.'"'"  without  which  all  these  things  are  but 
worldliness  and  vanity.  It  is  ''the  memory  of  the  just'"' 
which  is  blessed.  Other  memorials  men  may  have  of  the 
most  honorable  kind  :  other  remembrances  they  may  leave 
loeliind  to  their  friends  and  posterity,  but  with  it  all  they 
must  leave  at  the  ?ame  time  '•  the  memory  of  the  just'"''  if 
they  desire  to  inherit  a  blessing  and  to  live  forever  in  the 
regard  of  men.  and  in  the  favor  of  the  Almighty  God. 

In  its  highest  sense  the  term  just  is  not  to  be  understood 
in  its  partial  meaning  of  only  a  fair  dealer  in  the  business 
transactions  of  this  world.  We  here  use  it  in  the  broad 
sense  in  which  it  is  frequently  used  in  the  Holy  Scriptures 
to  desig-nate  the  righteous  man.  who  with  strict  conscien- 
tiousness yields  to  both  God  and  man  their  due  :  who.  under 
all  the  circumstances  of  poverty  or  riches,  honor  or  humility, 
temptation  or  trial,  preserves  always  a  conscience  void  of 
ofience  towards  God  and  towards  man. 

The  memorial  of  such  a  man  is  truly  lilessed.  It  is  writ- 
ten in  characters  which  shall  long  outlive  the  enclosed  sep- 
ulchre and  the  marble  tablet  upon  which  his  name  and  his 
virtues  are  inscribed.  The  chiselled  stone  may  become  gray 
with  age  :  the  mosses  of  years  may  fill  up  its  carving  ;  the 
insensible  hand  of  time  may  trace  deep  furrows  upon  its 
surface  ;  and  the  storms  of  centuries  battle  around  its 
mouldings  and  dissolve  the  indurated  substance  of  its  fiinty 
material,  particle  by  particle  :  but  still  we  have  the  sure  word 
of  God  to  tell  us  that  ■•  the  memory  of  the  just  is  blessed/' 
and  blessed  forever. 


G 

For  when  shall  the  memory  of  the  just  cease  ?  Shall  it 
be  when  his  name  is  forgotten  ?  —  when  his  deeds  are  ob- 
scured in  the  lapse  of  years  ?  Shall  it  be  when  all  the  good 
and  great  men  of  his  time  are  no  longer  known  to  the  suc- 
ceeding generations  ?  No !  my  brethren^  the  memorial  of 
the  just  is  of  no  such  fleeting  character.  Whatever  it  may 
be  in  the  sight  of  man,  it  ever  lives,  it  is  ever  blessed  in  the 
eye  of  God.  Whatever  it  may  become  in  the  memory  of 
man,  yet  in  its  real  and  lasting  effects  upon  the  human  race 
it  accumulates  treasure  upon  treasure  in  the  store-house  of 
Heaven  ;  for  it  is  a  memorial  which  elevates  the  practice  of 
the  Christian  virtues  of  "love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering, 
gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance,"  not  by 
an  occasional  experience  of  them,  not  by  a  spasmodic  effort 
at  long  intervals  to  realize  their  action,  but  by  aiming  to 
make  them,  with  the  help  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  pervading 
characteristics  of  his  daily  walk  and  conversation.  Such 
memorials  as  these,  I  repeat,  are  not  transitory  or  fleeting  in 
their  character.  They  are  the  instruments  wherewith  God 
stamps  upon  a  family,  or  a  community,  or  a  generation,  the 
indelible  impression  of  the  character  of  the  "just"  man. 
The  impression  is  felt  ages  after  the  man  himself  has  gone 
to  his  rest,  for  it  is  engraven  upon  the  table  of  the  hearts  of , 
men,  and,  perpetuated  by  the  influence  of  a  good  example,  it 
lives  longer  than  the  everlasting  hills. 

Yes,  the  course  of  the  just  is  onward.  "  The  path  of  the 
just  is  as  the  shining  light,  which  shine th  more  and  more 
unto  the  perfect  day."  It  proceeds  like  the  first  light  of 
dawn  in  the  East,  which  at  first  faintly  glows  ui3on  the  ho- 
rizon. But  soon  a  clear  thread  of  light  appears  and  gradually 
increases  in  beauty  and  glory  and  intensity  until  the  sun 
rises  in  full  brightness,  and  his  beams  ripen  and  glow,  shin- 
ing more  until  the  noontide,  which  is  "  the  perfect  day." 

So  it  is  with  the  blessed  memory  of  the  just.     It  ripens 


7 


more  and  more  until  that  day  and  that  period,  which  our 
Lord  calls  "  the  Resurrection  of  the  just/' .  It  experiences 
the  cheering  declaration  of  the  heavenly  voice  which  instruct- 
ed the  beloved  Apostle  to  write  :  "  Blessed  are  the  dead  that 
die  in  the  Lord, — yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they  may  rest 
from  their  labors  ;  and  their  works  do  follow  them/' 

The  course  of  these  remarks,  my  brethren,  will  not,  it  is 
believed,  be  deemed  by  you  inappropriate  to  the  occasion 
which  has  called  us  together  at  this  time. 

This  is  a  sorrowful  occasion.  There  is  no  funereal  hearse 
or  bier  now  in  attendance  at  the  door  of  this  place  of  worship. 
There  is  no  newly  opened  grave  waiting  in  our  Churchyard 
to  receive  the  remains  of  the  departed  dead.  There  is  no 
lifeless  body  stretched  out  before  this  chancel  in  its  last 
repose.  But  yet  there  is  a  reason  for  our  mourning  which 
you  all  well  understand.  For  afar  off,  on  the  coast  of  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  within  the  sound  of  her  heaving  billows, 
within  sight  of  the  ancient  city  of  Charleston, —  yea,  within 
the  slopes  of  Fort  Wagner,  and  in  a  hastily  made  grave, 
kept  from  friends  by  the  bayonets  of  a  hostile  foe,  lie  the 
mortal  remains  of  Colonel  Haldimand  Sumner  Putnam,  the 
noble  son  of  one  of  the  most  truly  beloved  and  respected 
families  which  we  are  privileged  to  have  in  our  midst. 

The  common  consent  of  the  community,  the  experience  of 
his  well  tried  friends,  and  my  own  acquaintance  (though  re- 
cent) with  the  person  and  character  of  the  deceased,  justify 
me  in  regarding  him  as,  beyond  a  doubt,  one  who  was  en- 
deavoring to  live  the  life  of  the  just  man,  and  one  who  had 
made  no  inconsiderable  progress  in  the  study  and  practice  of 
that  most  desirable  life. 

It  pleased  God  in  his  wise  providence  to  take  him  from  us 
at  a  comparatively  early  age, —  an  age  when  many  men  are 
but  entering  upon  the  threshold  of  their  professional  business 
experience.    But  with  him  the  period  of  his  later  youth  and 


8 


earlier  manhood  seems  to  have  been  so  well  and  faithfully  oc- 
cupied that^  years  since,  his  career  was  distinguished  by  the 
robust  virtues  of  mature  manhood  ;  and  his  life  which  gave 
so  high  a  promise  for  the  future  seems  already,  at  the  early 
age  of  twenty-seven,  to  have  culminated  in  a  richness  of 
experience  and  a  ripeness  of  manly  judgment  and  decision 
which  is  rather  to  be  expected  and  is  more  usually  met  with 
in  the  later  and  advanced  periods  of  life. 

By  common  consent  of  all  who  knew  him,  his  earlier  years, 
even  to  the  time  of  his  departure  from  home  to  study  the 
duties  of  his  chosen  profession,  were  marked  by  great  mod- 
esty of  spirit  and  kindness  and  courteousness  of  manner 
towards  all  men,  and  especially  by  a  dutiful  deportment 
towards  those  who  had  the  charge  over  him,  and  a  deep  rev- 
erence and  respect  for  all  that  was  justly  to  be  esteemed 
sacred  and  holy.  He  was  baptized  at  an  early  age  into  the 
membership  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  This  very  building,  if 
I  mistake  not,  witnessed  the  vows  of  his  profession  as  an 
obedient  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ,  admitted  into  His  congre- 
gation and  army  by  the  grace  of  the  Gospel,  and  not 
ashamed  to  confess  the  faith  of  Christ  crucified,  and  manful- 
ly to  fight  under  his  banner  against  sin,  the  world  and  the 
devil,  unto  his  life's  end.  And  the  good  seed  which  here  and 
in  the  circle  of  the  family  was  sown  in  his  heart  and  life,  was 
not  dormant  J  we  may  well  believe  ;  but  growing  and  Sjjring- 
ing  up  constantly  towards  the  light  of  G-od's  countenance, 
and  learning  to  dravf  its  nourishment  and  consolations  with 
deeper  and  steadier  and  more  comprehensive  faith  from  that 
well-spring  of  life  which  is  in  J esus  Christ  our  Lord,  it  was 
ripening  his  character,  his  habits,  his  life,  his  own  self  for 
the  great  Harvest  of  the  Just. 

In  attempting  to  place  before  you  a  sketch  of  his  profes- 
sional career,  I  must  be  permitted  to  draw  in  part  from  those 
brief  but  affectionate  and  touching  accounts  which  have 


9 


appeared  in  some  of  our  public  prints,  and  some  of  which  I 
have  had  the  hajDpiness  to  peruse.  I  can  say  but  little,  of 
course,  which  is  not  better  known  to  many  of  you  who  have 
been  his  interested  friends  from  his  childhood  up.  Yet  in  the 
present  discourse,  from  one  who  would  fain  be  his  friend  and 
yours,  and  on  the  present  occasion,  you  will  bear  to  be 
reminded  again  of  the  leading  events  of  his  professional  life. 

He  chose  the  life  of  a  soldier  of  his  country  and  lived  and 
died  amongst  that  true  and  noble  band  of  brothers-in-arms, 
who  would  not  forsake  their  pledged  word  nor  desert  for  a 
mere  phantom  of  the  imagination  their  solemn  vow  recorded 
before  God  and  man,  to  remain  forever  true  and  loyal  to  the 
established  constitutional  government  Vvdiich  cherished,  sus- 
tained and  educated  them  for  her  honorable  service. 

He  was  past  sixteen  years  of  age  when  he  entered  the 
U.  S.  Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  in  1853.  There 
he  conducted  himself  with  marked  ability,  and  was  so  far 
successful  in  the  generous  rivalry  of  his  class  of  students 
that,  in  18,57,  he  graduated  the  eighth  in  his  class,  and  was 
assigned  to  the  second  grade  of  honorable  appointments  by 
which  deserving  scholarship  and  good  conduct  is  rewarded, 
viz  :  by  an  appointment  to  a  brevet  2d  Lieutenantcy  in  the 
Corps  of  Topographical  Engineers.  Shortly  after  his  grad- 
uation he  was  ordered  to  report  for  military  duty  at  Troy, 
where  he  immediately  made  his  presence  felt  and  useful. 
Not  long  after  he  was  engaged  in  the  duties  of  his  profession 
upon  the  banks  of  the  great  Mississippi  Eiver,  whose  cun-ents 
he  traced  and  examined  from  St.  Louis  down  to  the  city  of 
ISTew  Orleans,  and  embodied  the  results  of  his  observations 
in  a  formal  report.  While  yet  in  the  West,  he  was  ordered 
to  report  at  Fort  Leavenworth  to  Col.  Johnson  who  was 
then  organizing  the  expedition  into  Utah.  Through  all  the 
trying  scenes  of  that  expedition,  which  was  compelled  to 
endure  a  winter  amid  the  rough  blasts  and  deep  snows  of  the 


10 


Bocky  Mountains  J  he  was  the  trusted  and  responsible  officer 
and  friend  of  the  Commander^  and  acquitted  himself  always 
— and  especially  on  one  occasion,  when  late  in  the  year  he 
was  detached  to  survey  and  mark  out  a  military  reservation — 
he  acquitted  himself  always  with  courage,  activity  and 
ability. 

"  When  the  dark  clouds  of  disunion  raised  their  gloomy 
I  forms  in  the  Southern  horizon,  Lieut.  Putnam  was  summoned 
to  Washington  and  entrusted  with  special  messages  of  the 
highest  importance  to  carry  to  Fort  Pickens.  He  travelled 
by  rail  through  the  excited  South/'  and  though  detained 
for  a  short  time  on  the  way  by  the  suspicions  and  fears  of 
disloyal  men,  he  so  wisely  and  prudently  conducted  himself 
that  he  was  permitted  to  pass  on  and  at  last  to  see  the  Com- 
mander at  Fort  Pickens  and  to  return  without  further  let  or 
hindrance  to  Washington.  On  the  day  after  his  return  he 
was  summoned  into  the  presence  of  the  venerable  General 
Scott  and  entrusted  by  him  with  unwritten  despatches  of 
the  greatest  secrecy  and  importance  to  the  Commanders  of 
the  Military  posts  in  New  Orleans  and  Texas.  This  duty 
he  discharged  with  the  best  success,  and  in  a  few  weeks  was 
again  at  his  post  in  Washington,  where  he  was  appointed  to 
an  important  position  upon  the  staff  of  General  McDowell, 
where  he  remained  through  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Eun,  and 
in  the  discharge  of  many  arduous  and  responsible  duties  un- 
til Oct.  15,  1861,  when  he  was  commissioned  Colonel  of  the 
7th  Regiment,  N.  K.  Y.  '^He  thought"  (says  a  writer  in 
the  New  Hampshire  Statesman)  that  his  country,  which 
had  so  generously  trained  him  for  her  service,  had  a  right  to 
see  him  in  a  more  perilous  and  arduous  field.  He  had,  under 
Gen.  McDowell^  planned  all  the  fortifications  near  the 
Capitol  in  Virginia  ;  but  when  the  command  of  the  7th 
Regiment  w^as  tendered  to  him,  he  not  only  accepted  the 
position  with  alacrity,  but  remarked  that  to  lead  a  regiment 


11 


of  New  Hampshire  men  in  this  straggle  to  save  his  country 
would  fill  all  his  aspirations. 

"  In  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  consenting  to  spare 
him  from  his  staff,  Gen.  McDowell  said  that  if  he  had  the 
power,  instead  of  a  Eegiment  he  would  give  him  a  Brigade  ; 
and  Prof  Henry  L.  Kenrick  (a  New  Hampshire  man,  from 
Lebanon  above  us)  of  the  West  Point  Academy  —  himself 
an  accomplished  and  gallant  soldier  as  well  as  scholar  —  said^ 
in  a  letter  at  the  same  time,  that  he  had  not  known  of  a 
young  man  from  that  institution  who  was  better  fitted  to 
perform  conspicuous  service  at  the  head  of  volunteer  troops 
and  shed  honor  upon  himself  and  his  native  state,  and  in 
this  high  encomium  the  whole  Board  of  Instruction  fully 
concurred.  In  the  Kegular  Army  he  was  honored  and  loved 
by  all,  while  among  his  intimate  friends  his  simple  unpre- 
tending dignity  of  manner  and  genuine  goodness,  combined 
with  fine  intellectual  gifts  and  culture,  secured  to  him  little 
less  than  idolatry. 

"The  career  of  the  7th  Eegiment  is  well  known.  Its  line 
of  duty  has  been  of  the  most  unwelcome  kind,  as  well  to  the 
good  soldier  as  to  the  aspiring  commander.  At  first  in  gar- 
rison duty  at  Tortugas,  then  at  Hilton  Head,  afterwards  at 
St.  Augustine  and  now  for  the  first  time  in  the  stern  work 
of  battle  on  Morris  Island,  in  which  both  men  and  officers 
bore  themselves  nobly,  and  in  which  their  young  and  beloved 
commander,  at  the  head  of  a  Brigade,  fell  as  all  such  true 
soldiers  prefer  to  fall.  Gen.  Gilmore  knew  him  well,  and 
this  is  the  reason  of  the  stern  and  momentous  part  which 
was  on  that  bloody  day  assigned  him.  The  fact  that  one  of 
the  principal  fortifications  captured  on  that  island  was  im- 
mediately named  Fort  Putnam  by  order  of  the  Commander- 
in-Chief  shows  how  well  he  did  his  work." 

It  will  be  of  interest  to  you  to  be  informed  as  fully  and 
as  accurately  as  may  be  of  the  circumstances  under  which  he 


12 


came  to  his  death.  Not  merely  to  gratify  a  morbid  curiosity^ 
but  because  they  are  of  common  interest  to  us  all  as  brethren 
interested  in  whatever  befalls  any  member  of  our  own  com- 
munity. And  I  have  therefore  thought  it  well  here  to  insert 
and  present  to  you  the  substance  of  a  letter^  written  by 
Lieut.  Col.  Abbott  (7th  H,  Y.),  which  conveyed  to  our 
valley  the  sad  news  of  his  death.  ♦ 

"On  the  day  of  the  battle  (the  18th  July)  the  2d  Brigade 
(Putnam's)  was  put  in  line  at  9,  A.  M.  All  day  we  lay  in 
the  sand  under  a  scorching  sun,  while  the  fleet  and  batteries 
boomed  upon  Fort  Wagner.  The  Colonel  with  his  Brigade 
Staff  and  the  Field  and  Staff  of  our  Eegiment  sat  together 
upon  a  little  hillock  of  sand.  He  was  rather  more  silent 
and  reflective  than  usual,  but  yet  cheerful.  At  about  dusk 
every  gun  of  the  fleet  and  batteries  opened  to  their  utmost 
capacity,  and  the  order  was  given  the  Brigades  to  advance. 
The  7th  Eegiment  led  his  Brigade.  He  gave  me  brief  di- 
rections how  to  advance.  He  then  marched  his  Brigade  in 
column  by  companies  and  moved  up.  He  deployed  them 
into  line,  then  moved  them  again,  and  then  when  beyond 
our  intrenchments  deployed  again,  and  so  we  reached  the 
moat  of  the  Fort  in  line.  The  last  words  I  heard  him  utter 
distinctly  were  when  he  rode  near  me  while  there  was  a  ter- 
rific fire  of  shot,  shell  and  musketry,  and  cried  out,  Forward, 
boys,  we'll  be  in  Fort  Wagner  in  five  minutes.'  It  was 
uttered  in  his  cheeriest,  gayest  tones,  and  the  7th  responded 
with  a  cheer.  Soon  after  his  lines  halted,  while  his  men  were 
falling  thick  all  around.  He  was  now  some  distance  in  my  rear 
when  I  heard  his  voice  above  the  tumult,  and  knew  it  to 
be  an  order  to  advance.  We  reached  the  ditch  ;  the  men 
plunged  in,  and  amid  a  terrible  fire  the  assault  commenced. 
I  never  saw  him  again.  By-and-by  the  lines  staggered  and 
I  attempted  to  rally  them.  Falling  back  some  hundred  and 
fifty  yards,  I  intercepted  the  stragglers  and  got  together 


13 


about  a  liunclred  and  fifty  men.  Just  then  an  aid  rode  along 
saying  that  CoL  Putnam  yras  upon  the  parapet  calling  for 
reinforcements.  I  at  once  adyanced  again  with  what  men  I 
had,  but  soon  an  aid  came  and  ordered  us  to  about  face  and 
march  to  the  rear.  On  our  way  back  the  rumor  spread  that 
Col.  Putnam  was  killed.  I  did  not  believe  it,  and  drew  the 
shattered  remnants  of  the  regiment  together  and  so  told 
them.  I  had  hardly  got  to  my  tent  when  Capt.  Eollins 
arriyed  and  told  me  the  truth. 

"  While  standing  upon  the  parapet  of  Fort  Wagner  the 
Colonel  was  struck  by  a  ball  in  the  head,  and  fell.  Capt. 
Kollins  of  Co.  F  was  near  him  :  he  stooped,  put  his  hand 
under  his  head,  raised  it  and  said,  ^  Colonel,  are  you  much 
hurt  ?'  but  there  was  no  answer.  He  put  his  hand  upon  the 
heart,  and  it  was  still.  It  was  impossible  for  him  in  the 
tumult  to  bear  away  the  body,  and  it  was  left.  Yesterday 
(continues  Lieut.  CoL  Abbott),  I  procured  a  flag  of  truce 
from  Gren.  Gilmore  specially  to  recoyer  the  body.  I  went 
with  it  myself.  It  was  responded  to,  and  a  body  brought  to 
the  line.  Papers,  which  I  recognized,  were  handed  to  me 
from  the  pocket  of  Col.  Putnam.  I  glanced  at  the  body, 
the  head  being  towards  me.  The  complexion,  the  hair,  the 
beard,  the  general  contour  of  the  features  were  liis.  There 
was  a  terrible  wound  from  a  grape-shot  in  the  forehead,  yery 
nearly  where  Capt.  Eollins  had  told  me  that  Col.  Putnana 
was  struck.  The  officer  moi-eoyer  remarked  that  the  body 
had  been  recognized  by  a  classmate  of  his  in  the  Confederate 
army.  It  did  not  occur  to  me  that  there  was  any  mistake 
in  the  identity  of  the  body.  I  stepped  to  the  stretcher, 
took  the  white  handkerchief  which  I  had  used  as  a  flag, 
coyered  his  face  and  then  sadly  l)ore  the  body  to  camp.  It 
was  not  until  it  was  commenced  to  cleanse  it,  the  face  being 
now  coyered  with  sand,  that  we  discoyered  that  it  was  7iot 
Col.  P.'s  body,  but  that  of  another  officer  who  fl?ll  near  the 


14 


same  spot,  wounded  in  nearly  the  same  way,  and  very  much 
resembling  him.  It  was  now  nearly  dark,  and  I  knew  that 
it  was  useless  to  ask  for  another  flag  of  truce,  for  the  first 
was  reluctantly  granted.  I  need  not  tell  you  of  our  deep 
disappointment." 

Thus  it  is,  brethren,  that  in  the  providence  of  God,  whose 
ways  and  intentions  are  unknown  to  us,  we  have  not  now  the 
melancholy  satisfaction  of  depositing  the  body  of  our  belov- 
ed friend,  with  the  last  Christian  rites,  in  the  soil  of  this  his 
native  valley.  And  thus  it  is,  that  the  privilege  which  is 
denied  us,  and  which  had  been  wholly  unlooked  for  by  an- 
other sorrowing  family  in  our  country,  has  been  granted  them] 
and  in  our  disappointment  we  behold  without  jealousy,  but 
with  Christian  sympathy,  their  solace  and  comfort.  So  God 
tempers  and  disposes  his  visitations. 

I  will  not  detain  you  longer  with  many  words.  I  call  you 
to  observe  one  strongly  developed  trait  in  the  life  of  our 
departed  brother.  It  was  his  justness,  temjDcred  with  gen- 
tleness and  firmness  towards  his  superiors  and  inferiors,  in 
the  station  of  life  which  he  filled.  He  was  a  just  man,  a 
just  soldier,  Sijust  officer.  Do  you  ask  me  how  I  know  this.^ 
I  answer,  it  is  the  universal  testimony  of  those  who  had 
the  best  opportunity  to  know  and  to  test  him.  He  enjoyed 
the  work  of  his  profession,  and  enjoyed  it  with  the  conscious- 
ness of  having  fairly  and  honorably  performed  whatever  was 
given  him  to  do.  He  had  no  regrets  to  liarbor  in  respect  to 
a  single  public  or  professional  work  with  which  he  had  to  do ; 
and  his  very  last  act  was  done  with  a  thoroughness  and 
completeness,  that  left  him  no  more  earthly  life  to  live. 
That  he  was  a  just  officer,  is  the  universal  testimony  of  the 
officers  and  soldiers  of  his  command.  "  Though  he  was  a 
strict  disciplinarian  (writes  a  correspondent),  the  soldiers  of 
his  Eegiment  knew  that  in  his  heart  there  was  love  for  each 
and  all  of  them.     From  the  day  of  his  assuming  command 

/ 


15 


of  the  Kegiment,  until  lie  fell  upon  the  field  of  glory,  not  a 
single  murmur  or  complaint  came  back  to  New  Hampshire 
from  either  officers  or  men."  He  himself  wrote  to  his  father 
that  at  St.  Augustine  he  never  permitted  the  respect  due 
to  the  army  and  to  the  flag  to  be  intermitted,  yet  he  had 
been  able  so  to  administer  the  aftairs  of  his  military  command 
that,  whereas  St.  Augustine  was  at  first  bitterly  opposed  to 
the  Union,  he  now  thought  that  a  majority  of  votes  could  be 
obtained  from  the  citizens  in  favor  of  the  Union.  And  Lieut. 
Col.  Abbott  writes,  "I  cannot  tell  you  the  deep  and  oppress- 
ive sadness  which  pervades  our  camp.  I  read  it  in  the  faces 
of  the  officers  and  men,  and  feel  it  weighing  heavily  in  my 
own  heart.  I  did  not  know  until  now  how  much  I  loved 
him,  nor  how  undivided  had  become  my  devotion  to  him. 
I  have  now  been  intimately  associated  with  him  for  more 
than  a  year,  and  I  have  found  him  one  of  the  most  upright 
and  noble  of  men.  He  died,  the  acknowledged  hero  of  that 
terrific  assault  ;  and  among  those  who  have  ever  fallen  in 
this  present  unhappy  war,  or  at  other  times,  none  bore  a 
spirit  more  lofty  or  a  name  more  unsullied."  This  is  a  glori- 
ous record  for  a  frail  child  of  earth.  His  body  has  gone  to 
mingle  with  the  earth, — Earth  to  earth,  aslies  to  ashes, 
dust  to  dust."  We  commit  him,  both  body  and  soul,  to 
God,  the  Almighty  Father,  who  never  ceaseth  to  care  for 
those  who  trust  in  him. 

1  appeal  to  you  all  here  present,  and  especially  to  the 
young  men  of  this  congregation,  by  the  example  of  our  de- 
parted friend,  to  cultivate  in  yourselves  the  love  and  practice 
oi"  Justice,  Mercy  and  Truth.  Justice,  Mercy  and  Truth 
are  the  foundations  of  God's  eternal  government,  and  they  may 
well  be  sought  for  by  all  of  you  with  deep  and  tender  earn- 
estness, with  persevering  solicitude  and  with  humble  devotion. 
They  are  qualities  and  graces  which  are  deeply  needed  in 
this  stage  of  our  country's  trials,  for  they  have  been  sadly 


16 

abused  with  us,  if  ever  in  the  world's  history.  If  we  do  no^ 
learn  these,  we  shall  not  have  learned  half  the  lesson  which 
the  Almighty  is  now  teaching  our  country  by  the  terrible 
visitation  of  the  sword.  Remember,  young  men,  that  you 
must  account  to  the  Lord  God  himself  for  the  character  and 
extent  of  the  service  which,  according  to  your  opportunities 
and  in  your  sphere  of  life,  you  render  to  your  neighbor,  to 
your  country  and  to  your  God.  Therefore,  in  the  name  of 
God  ;  in  view  of  every  Christian  example  which  has  been 
set  you  down  to  this  present  time  ;  in  view  of  every  noble 
action  of  every  noble  man^  I  charge  you  strive  to  lay  up  for 
your  inheritance  that  memory  of  the  just  man,  which  is 
blessed. 

How  long,  0  Lord,  how  long !  shall  this  horrid  carnage 
continue  in  this,  our  once  favored  land.  How  long  shall  the 
grim  front  of  War  frown  upon  our  fair  borders.  Hovf  long 
shall  the  sword  continue  to  be  uplifted,  and  once  happy 
homes  filled  with  the  anguish  of  bereavement  and  desolation ! 

Give  us  grace,  0  God,  to  live  better  and  holier  lives,  in 
deeper  reverence  for  Thyself,  for  thy  holy  Name  and  thy 
holy  Word,  for  thy  holy  Day  and  thy  holy  Church.  And 
bring  near  the  time  when  swords  shall  be  beaten  into  plough- 
shares and  spears  into  pruning  hooks,  and  nation  shall  not 
lift  up  sword  against  nation,  neither  shall  they  learn  war  any 
more  ;  when  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  shall  cover  the  earth 
as  the  waters  cover  the  sea. 

And  now  unto  God  Almighty,  the  Father,  the  Son^  and 
the  Holy  Ghost,  be  ascribed  all  might,  majesty,  dominion 
and  glory,  forever  and  ever.  Amen. 


Date  Due  \ 

JUL  3  u IF 

1 

Form  335.    45M  8-37. 

974.2  Z99A  v.l  nos.l-|3^gg^ 


N.  .'Hampshire  Pamphlets 


2  Z99A  v.l  nos,l«23  307891 


